More to it than meets the blade
by Clarenova
Summary: Ayame gets word to meet Lord Gohda at the conqured Gohda palace, wondering what could be so important. When she finds out, she gets the shock of her life... and a duty that is placed onto her back while she tries to save Gohda palace R/R!!!
1. What does he want?

1 More to it than meets the blade  
  
  
  
Ayame took her time, her back flat against the wall, muttering to herself as she unsheathed her two blades.  
  
'Yeah yeah, Eraiyu can talk. Meet me here... Yeah right! More like please die here. Oh well... Here goes nothing'  
  
Taking a quick look beyond the wall corner, she saw three patrol guards.  
  
'Gre--at. Just perfect.'  
  
Taking out her blowpipe, she peeked out again, aimed, and in one lightning move, shot the pipe. Before the dart could even reach the furthest guard, Ayame had shot out, slashed twice at the neck of the first guard, and took one look at the last one, who was obviously the master of the guard.  
  
'Well hello. What are you doing out on a night like this? Stargazing?'  
  
'You! Gohda's ninja! I was waiting for you. You die here and now!'  
  
'As if! You know, you must be like a bat - totally blind. I was standing here watching you for the past ten minutes. Anyway, I thank you, I need not voice my thoughts about you dying here, tonight.'  
  
The guard was holding a large spear, and he charged at Ayame, who laughed, and ducked nimbly. The guard ran by her, and without even turning around to face him, she twirled one of her two kodachi's, around and stabbed the guard through his back.  
  
'Youu kiilleed mmeeeeee!'  
  
Still facing the guard tower in front of her, Ayame replied.  
  
'Been there, done that.'  
  
She took a look around. There was a thick wall with a gate, which was locked. It had a tiled, flat roof cover. Simple enough. Sheathing her daggers and withdrawing her grappling hook, Ayame aimed it at the roof. It caught on quite easily and pulled her up.  
  
Once on the roof, she crouched low and took a good look around her. It was a single storey flat roofed housing area, not unlike many others she had seen.  
  
'The dining area, eh? Simple enough. That should be in the centre, right in the centre.'  
  
Jumping off, she padded silently, her blue-black attire melding in with the midnight-blue sky. Stealthy pressing her body against the wall, she peered around. The coast was clear. Moving with supple grace and nimble speed, she marched boldly into the dining area, where Eraiyu sat on the bamboo sheeting at a low table. Eraiyu was a messenger, and a highly skilled one at that. Both of them hardly looking up, they greeted each other as Ayame sat down and helped herself to a cup of green tea.  
  
'Eraiyu. What's up?'  
  
'Lord Gohda wants to see you. The message said something about new kodachis'  
  
'What's wrong with mine?'  
  
'Nothing. Just that there are new and better ones.'  
  
'Great. But I really don't need four kodachis.'  
  
'Maybe. But it's Lord Gohda. He said to meet him.'  
  
'Find him you mean. In this time of peril, barely anybody knows where he is.'  
  
'Oh, he told me where to look.'  
  
'Where?'  
  
'Gohda Castle'  
  
'Phasplat!'  
  
Ayame was halfway through a mouthful of green tea when she heard the name. In shock, she had spitted it all out. Onto Eraiyu.  
  
'What did you that for?'  
  
'I thought you needed a bath.' Ayame put in sarcastically.  
  
'I do not!'  
  
'Eraiyu, do you know how to take a joke? But really, Gohda castle? What is there? His skeleton? The place is swarming with Moyotoda's scum!'  
  
'True. But there are a secret chain of rooms and corridors, hidden, that few know of. And certainly not Moyotoda.'  
  
'Fine. But I have to go alone?'  
  
'That's what he said.'  
  
'Perfect. Just perfect. Should I write my will?'  
  
'No.'  
  
'Eraiyu,'  
  
'Yes?'  
  
'Get a life.'  
  
******************  
  
Ayame returned to the inn she was staying at. Ever since Rikimaru's death, she had stayed at the castle, but since she was away at the time of the coming of Moyotoda, she did not try to re-enter the castle, though she greatly feared what happened to Lord Gohda. Soon she had gotten news of his survival, and had laid low and awaited his word.  
  
She was already wearing her ninja outfit, and was selecting items to bring with her. Her trusty blowpipe and some shurikens, a couple of caltrops and bottle of healing potion.  
  
She checked her two kodachis, tied back her hair, and set off to Gohda castle, a hour away. 


	2. New faces

Ayame reached the castle. She stood on a hill like indentation, under the white moonlight that pierced the midnight sky. Taking a brief look at the map that Eraiyu had given her, she planned her route, looking through the passages and corridors of Gohda castle by memory.  
  
She let the harsh and cold night wind whip strands of her long black hair across her face, which was pale and delicate, yet at the same time strong and independent. Her black eyes had a fire that burned like wildfire, echoing everything about her beautiful figure, strong and sleek. Hers was the image of an independent and courageous woman. And she would not give up. With that, she took off like a fleeting shadow, nimble and lithe, fast and deadly.  
  
Crouching in the midst of a small grove of arrow bamboo, looking straight at the palace's outer wall. The south outer wall, which she was facing, had a direct secret passage to the dining room, of which had full access to all the secret rooms and passages.  
  
To Ayame's surprise, two guards only guarded it.  
  
'Hah. How Moyotoda even defeated the palace I can't see. Time for some real action.'  
  
These guards were katana guards. Very, very easy to defeat. At least, for an azuma ninja like Ayame.  
  
Running up and purposely bumping into the rear guard, she jumped onto his neck, gave it a quick twist and heard it crack. The guard couldn't even scream. Before the body toppled over with her on it, Ayame jumped off, as silent as ever, did a vertical flip in midair, making her body go head down onto the ground. As she was still about a meter above the ground, she unsheathed both her weapons, with relish, stab them into the dead guard's chest, did a somersault so that she was upright and tugged both kodachis out of the guard, flinging the body so that it gained momentum, and saw it fall heavily on the still unknowing front guard, whose back was turned. The spine of the front guard cracked upon impact, and Ayame simply landed on both feet, noiselessly like a stealthy cat.  
  
Doing a double jump up onto the roof, she looked for a certain tile, of which she pressed down with her foot. Slowly the tiles beneath her started to lower her down into a darkened passage.  
  
'Sigh. Will they ever think of lightings?'  
  
Still, Ayame decided best not to spark up a light, and moved in the darkness. She felt the tunnel go underground, she realised she was travelling below the outside grounds, and soon would be below the building itself.  
  
Soon the passage started to rise, and eventually she came to a dead end. She trailed her fingers across the cool stone, and felt a depression in the sheer rock wall. Pressing it didn't seem to work. The passage was, however, very wide. Standing back, she threw a strong hard kick with her long legs, and immediately a square of the floor elevated upward. She stood on it, and waited until it stopped.  
  
The dining room passage. Following the map she was given, the came to the largest secret chamber, where Lord Gohda was.  
  
Sheathing her kodachis she ran into the room and bowed.  
  
'Lord Gohda.'  
  
'Ayame. I see you have come. Did Eraiyu tell you why I wanted you here?'  
  
'He said something about new weapons.'  
  
'And you fell for that?'  
  
Ayame's head, which was directed to the floor, shot straight up and looked at Gohda.  
  
'If it isn't then what is it, lord?'  
  
'Ayame, meet your new apprentice, Sheoshu.'  
  
Ayame looked at a frail looking young girl who stood next to princess Kiku. Sheoshu? Apprentice? Was Lord Gohda joking?  
  
'Yes lord.'  
  
'She will help you regain control of the castle. You have to go to kill one of Moyotoda's leaders, Komotoya, who currently is the on in charge of the palace. Then search him. He will have the name of another one of Moyotoda's leaders. You will have to extinguish all of them, each time getting the place and area of the next until you find Moyotoda himself. Good luck.'  
  
'Yes, lord.'  
  
Ayame looked up and mentioned to the young Sheoshu to follow her. This was extremely strange to her. She always followed in the footsteps of another, Rikimaru and Tatsumaru. Now she was the leader, and it was new and strange experience. But she held her head up high and carried on.  
  
For Gohda Palace and its freedom. 


	3. The first one

'Great. I'm stuck with you. Have you been on a mission before?'  
  
Ayame looked down at the young girl, who had changed into ninja attire, and looked surprising sturdy and hardy.  
  
'A few, maybe about 4.'  
  
'What did you do? Save a puppy?' Ayame was being sarcastic again.  
  
'No. I fed the fishes.' Sheoshu shot back an equally as venomous rejoinder.  
  
'I'm starting to like you. You show promise. Now stuff it in.'  
  
Padding silently together through one of the secret passages to the throne room, where Komotoya was sure to be.  
  
'We have to exit here. I am sure that even though it's a short corridor, there are many guards. We will appear in a tiny area, out of sight of the main guards. Stealth-kill the first one, you to the right and me to the left. Slash up with the second, rollover, slash downwards with the third. Take out the fourth, if there is a fourth, by blade to blade combat. Got it?'  
  
'With a determined nod, they both stepped into the first corridor. Ayame gave Sheoshu a 5 second head start, saw her bump the first guard on the right, then jumped to it.  
  
Sheoshu also used two kodachis, but the attacks were quite different.  
  
Ayame crossed her arms, swiped her leg outwards so the unsuspecting guard fell back down towards her. While he was falling, she uncrossed her arms, the attack of her two weapons leaving his throat slit.  
  
Sheoshu on the other hand, held the kodachis parallel to each other, doing a vicious diagonal right stab downwards into the guards unprotected back, withdrawing, diagonal left stab, which turned the guard to face her, then a finishing of a quick right then left slash across his throat.  
  
Both finished at relatively the same time, with superb speed. Both crouching, in a split second 4 kodachis were seen flashing upwards, and they both rolled over backwards to avoid the falling guard.  
  
They were now both a lengthy way from the last, alerted guard, so both did a double jump, upon reaching the guard's shoulders, stabbed down into the shoulders, heaved themselves onto the shoulders, withdrew the kodachis in the direction of their back, twisting their arms and sheathing their weapons with amazing speed. The guards had hardly moved when they had finished. Both guards were still alive, so they instinctively used their arms to grab hold of their attacker's legs, which was what Ayame and Sheoshu were waiting for.  
  
Ayame twisted the guards neck then immediately flung her body weight sideways, heaving the guard onto the wall and hearing it contact with a sickening crack, while doing a backwards somersault off his neck.  
  
Sheoshu however, did in an amazing show of skill and strength, heave the guard up in a vertical flip, letting go in mid flip and rolling over in the air so that she landed with her feet on the ground. Before the guard's body, which was now horizontal, could fall, she threw caltrops onto the area where he would fall. That finished him off.  
  
'Check them'  
  
From her guards, Ayame got a grenade, some caltrops and a bottle of healing potion.  
  
From her guards, Sheoshu got 3 shurikens, a bottle of antidote and poison rice.  
  
With one look, both entered the throne room, where they found Komotoya. Ayame did the talking.  
  
Wearing her usual sarcastic casual look, she spoke.  
  
'Komotoya, where is the next leader.'  
  
'You! Gohda's ninja! Why should I tell you!'  
  
'Because I will kill you if you don't you mindless toad!'  
  
'The details are here. Come and get it!'  
  
'Get it I will. You watch. Actually, you die.'  
  
Both Ayame and Sheoshu threw caltrops at the foot of Komotoya, who hesitated. That was his mistake. Ayame snuck behind him while Sheoshu took the chance to throw her shurikens at him.  
  
Before the evil man could realise what was going on, Ayame was on him. Stabbing his leg, she snatched the scroll her held and tossed it to Sheoshu.  
  
'Don't want to stain the nice paper, do we?'  
  
With that, she slit his throat.  
  
Ayame started chatting with Sheoshu  
  
'Nice style.'  
  
'Thanks.'  
  
'Where to?'  
  
'Some place near the shore. Sounds nice.'  
  
'Maybe we should pack a picnic.'  
  
'I'll bring some poison rice sushi.'  
  
'I'll bring some knives. Those could come in handy.'  
  
'I'm sure a bottle of poisoned sake would also fit in.'  
  
'Don't forget some blow-pipe straws.'  
  
'Yeah. We can put the darts point up.'  
  
'They'll find a pleasant surprise when they suck up.'  
  
'Lets go then.' 


	4. The sea pirate

Both Ayame and Sheoshu had gotten out of Gohda palace unscathed, though a few more guards would not live to see the dawn. Travelling under the blanket of darkness, they had gotten back to the inn four hours before dawn. Dropping all her encumbering ninja armour and items, Ayame fell flat onto her bed, and motioned to Sheoshu to get into a twin bed across the room.  
  
'Best sleep while we still can, it will be a long day tomorrow.'  
  
'Night.'  
  
Ayame slept for three hours. She never did sleep that much, as training to be an azuma ninja was gruelling and sleep wasn't really important at times. Feeling a need for some fresh air, Ayame walked on the balcony, then jumped onto the tiled roof.  
  
She looked around her, the dark blue sky spanned onwards, beyond the small Japanese residential area. The wind whipped long strands of her hair around, suddenly Ayame felt so small in the world, so lost and strange. Memories of those she held dear to herself flew back to her as she stood on the roof of the in.  
  
Tatsumaru.  
  
Rikimaru.  
  
Master Shiunsai.  
  
She felt implored to cry, but she was too well trained to show her emotions. Her face was that of a hard stone, cold and unfriendly. The setting moon behind her back only added to the mystery surrounding her, the lone figure, who was deadly and fatal.  
  
That was what she was, and as she had found out long ago, that was something she could not change.  
  
No matter how hard she tried.  
  
Sighing, she put her shapely figure into action. Jumping back down, she equipped herself, and woke young Sheoshu.  
  
Soon they were on the road again, heading through the deserted houses. Many people had moved away, waiting the time when Moyotoda was defeated. After an hour of running, the shore came into view. Both ninja's backed against a large boulder, looking out.  
  
Two guards, one with a katana, on a smaller boulder, another directly on top of them, with a shotgun.  
  
Ayame gave silent directions. Motioning Sheoshu to take out the guard above, she padded off towards the other guard.  
  
Sheoshu jumped up. Bashing the guard on the back of his neck with the hilts of her kodachis, spun the stunned man around and rammed her hand, which was held vertically flat, onto his neck, blocking off his windpipe and killing him instantly. No blood would show up, thus lowering the chance for the red to be spotted, as it would be very striking against the pale sand. Searching him, she found nothing, and jumped back down to observe Ayame.  
  
Ayame's attack was quick and ruthless. Send a swift kick into the guards back, she kicked out again at the back of his neck as he felt, breaking his neck. Nothing on him either.  
  
Meeting up with Sheoshu, Ayame mentioned to a large cavern.  
  
'We'll have to swim, there's a underwater passage to it.'  
  
The entrance to the passage was a shallow stream of flowing seawater, which was clear. There was plenty of thriving sea life in the shallow, short seaweeds, small coral. All of it was very beautiful. They padded through the shallows, until they came to a abrupt steep drop where the flow seemed to be coming from. It was hidden underneath a high cliff, a medium sized hole where they could slip in. Taking a deep breath, they dived.  
  
They followed the passage until they came to a small air pocket, which was like a small round spaced out area. It was like a well, with a platform on all four sides where the passage ended. A rope ladder was hung, rolling down from a small, well-like steep drop.  
  
Ayame crept up, poked her head out, and saw nobody was there. They both emerged and found themselves in a chain of caverns. Ayame remembered from the scroll the main cavern was smack in the middle, so they crept forward.  
  
Besides a single guard of which Ayame dispatched with a blow dart, the coast was relatively clear. They ran into the main cavern.  
  
Ayame unsheathed her weapons and looked at a burly, big man.  
  
'Are you one of Moyotoda's men?'  
  
'Harr arr! Whad if I am, me pretty liddle sea flower?'  
  
'I'll pretty little sea flower you!'  
  
'A sharp liddle crab ye are, aren't yer?'  
  
'Yes. And this little crab will pound you, you fat little fish!'  
  
'So show me whad you've got!'  
  
Ayame went into blade-to-blade combat. Except the pirate was wielding a club. The club was large and very hard to swing, and the battle was near over before it even started.  
  
Ayame watched the club gain momentum as it swung from the left and to the right, and she ducked. As the pirate swung it to the left again, Ayame slashed out at his wrists, making him drop the club. That was all she needed. With a smooth motion, he was stabbed in the heart.  
  
Searching him, she found the next scroll.  
  
Sheoshu piped up.  
  
'Where are we going now?'  
  
'Some rich guy's house.'  
  
'Whoa! Look at the size of it.'  
  
'Looks like a maze.'  
  
'Whatever. Lets go.' 


	5. Could it be that easy?

'Wait!'  
  
Sheoshu yelled out, and Ayame stopped.  
  
They were about to make their way out of the cavern and Ayame was getting quite irritated. Muttering to herself, she said,  
  
'Mindless git, what does she want now?'  
  
'Duck!'  
  
Instinct and quick reflexes alone saved Ayame. From the sides of the passage, there came 3 arrows, shooting out and thudding in the other side with savage force.  
  
'Oh god. Why me? It's always the booby traps. Move!'  
  
Doing a series of quick cartwheels, they managed to get away from the passage. They ended up in a totally different area, where the passage ended was another water passage.  
  
'Great. We've gone and gotten ourselves lost. If we're lucky, we might just die too!'  
  
'Oh, could you just keep quiet, Ayame? For once??'  
  
'Ah, just keep going.'  
  
Taking a deep breath, Ayame plunged in, head first, Sheoshu following.  
  
They swam downwards for while, then, to their amazement, they came to another air pocket, this time larger. Shrugging, they unsheathed their weapons, and padded silently into a corridor leading away from the air pocket. Ayame, who was in front, did a sudden stop.  
  
'They fell for it?'  
  
'Yes, boss. Hammered old Tenushiri, and took the decoy.'  
  
'Heh, heh, heh! They'll never find out what happened. They will walk straight into my trap! Heh! The real scroll is safe with me, those fools!'  
  
Ayame could take it no longer. Charging into the small cavern, she yelled.  
  
'Don't you mess with me, pea brain!'  
  
'You! How did you find me?'  
  
'Did I hear something screeching, Sheoshu?'  
  
'I do believe you did.'  
  
'Well I think it's starting to get annoying, so what do you say we shut it up?'  
  
'Works with me.'  
  
Sheoshu leapt forward and took out the guard with a few blurry kodachi strikes.  
  
Ayame locked hers blade-to-blade with the man; using her right to parry, whistle her left stabbed away. She managed to stab his right leg, and he crumpled.  
  
'Scum, you don't deserve to live!'  
  
'A boon! A boon! Spare me!'  
  
'Here's a boon for you, big mouth.'  
  
And he fell dead on the floor.  
  
Stepping over the dead man in disgust, Ayame withdrew the real scroll, and searched him.  
  
'Hmmm. Interesting...'  
  
Ayame had found 2 flaming arrows. Throwing one to Sheoshu, she said.  
  
'Now we only have to find a way out of this place.'  
  
But Sheoshu wasn't listening.  
  
'Come here, Ayame! Take a look at this!'  
  
The walls in the cavern were mostly made of soil, with the occasional supporting stone here and there.  
  
There was a small crack in the south soil wall, which meant that there was an entrance beyond the wall.  
  
'This has to be a way out.'  
  
Ayame took one look at it and then ran back a few paces.  
  
'Stand back, Sheoshu.'  
  
Ayame sent a triple kick flying towards the wall, and did a hurried back flip as the soil crumbled.  
  
'Run!'  
  
They ran through the crumpling soil and found themselves out in the open, and straight into the arms of a guard.  
  
'Why hello! Nice day for a picnic, don't you think? Care for some soil?'  
  
In a quick movement, Ayame grabbed a handful of soil and flung it into the guard's eyes. While the guard was trying in vain to regain his sight, Sheoshu dispatched him.  
  
'That's done with, so where to?'  
  
'Oh my goodness!'  
  
'What?'  
  
'This tells us to go to the village where master Shiunsai lived.' 


End file.
